Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have devised a technique called Electrick that uses electric field tomography to turn virtually any surface—including toys, guitars, entire walls, tables, steering wheels, and even Jello—into an interactive touchpad.

A team at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, and Dow Electronic Materials has developed two-way LEDs that can both emit and harvest light—and may enable next-gen, smart touchless displays.

Integrated Roadways (Kansas City, Mo.) is a company with big plans for an uber-connected world—the company is pioneering its namesake to build a world literally and figuratively connected by a mobile Internet of Things.

What if the key to “smarter” technology literally lies within us? Carnegie Mellon University and Disney Research are developing smartwatch technology that uses the human body’s electrical connectivity to automatically recognize what objects users are touching and launch specific contextual applications to help support the task at hand.